Crysis 3: Trailer Analysis & What The Trailer Doesn-t Tell You!

How on earth will you survive the wait until 2013 knowing Crysis 3 is on the way? It’s only recently been announced and already there’s a sense of excitement surrounding Crytek’s next Crysis.

The new gameplay trailer doesn’t help, either, proving that Crytek are continuing to push technological benchmarks with each instalment.

But NowGamer has seen much more after watching the trailer’s gameplay demoed first-hand. Here are some of the secrets we’ve discovered that the trailer hasn’t shown.

Crysis 3 Has Better Graphics Than Ever Before

You can see that for yourself, of course, but seeing it in action is something else entirely. It’s the minutiae that help create a believable world, after all, and Crysis 3’s attention to detail – even at this early stage – is uncanny.

The gameplay trailer is set inside one of the ‘seven wonders of the rainforest’, a term used by Rasmus Højengaard to describe the seven distinct areas of the nanodome covering New York.

This particular area is set in Chinatown, part-submerged to create a swamp-like location. The Cell Corporation has set up floodlights too, basking the area in a sterile light.

Prophet’s objective here is the reach the top of the tower in this area, but it is heavily defended by Ceph enemies.

Again, it’s the subtleties that make the visuals standout – whether that’s the impressive flickering of ragged curtains as a Ceph ship flies by or the interaction with frogs as they leap through the water of the marshland.

Old enemies will return, as well as some new ones.

Crysis 3 Is More Sandbox In Combat

One of the biggest criticisms of Crysis 2 was its linearity, especially from fans of the original Crysis who preferred the freeform combat.

And with Crysis 3, Crytek are emphasising the triple-A gameplay that has always been at the heart of the series – in this sense meaning ‘Assess, Adapt, Attack’.

It’s not easily spotted in the trailer, but there’s a much more sandbox nature to combat in Crysis 3 than its predecessor. Attacking the Ceph required much more than charging in, instead beginning each assault by tagging the enemies in the area with binoculars.

And then, even when under attack, there’s more to combat than standing your ground and blasting away. Prophet will need to clamber over the derelict structures to avoid getting overrun.

There will be killcams for well-executed kills with the bow.

Plenty Of New Weapon Types

We’ve already seen the composite bow that Prophet is using, and the new trailer shows it off a little bit more.

But the important thing about the bow is that it can be fired while cloaked, which is perfect for stealth combat. That said, there are multiple arrow types for the bow – and switching to explosive arrowheads is great for direct combat.

There’s also the Cell Typhoon: a ridiculous creation from the Cell Corporation that fires 200 rounds a second. The clips themselves take up the entire length of the gun, so it takes a little while to reload – but ensures your enemies stay dead.

Not only that, but Prophet’s suit can now use Ceph weaponry too – enabling you to harness that blue plasma fire against your enemies. There’s only one shown in the gameplay trailer – the Heavy Mortar – which has two firing modes.

Both modes are explosive, however the secondary mode will obliterate anything in its wake. The primary mode spits out large discs that strike that explode on contact, kind of like a grenade launcher.

Whenever Prophet picks up a Ceph weapon, however, the HUD distorts as the nanosuit tries to incorporate it into its display.

Interestingly, however, these Ceph weapons won’t have endless supplies of ammo – the idea being they’re a temporary boost to Prophet’s power to enhance the feeling of being superpowered, but require careful use of supplies to make the most of the weapons.

Each district will have a distinct style and theme.

Crysis 3’s New Enemy Types

The Cell are still a major focus of the game – they’re the ones that built the nanodome around New York after all – but now the Ceph have a few more enemies in their midst.

Most prevalent in the gameplay trailer is the new Scorcher enemy, who crawls towards its target then raises itself into the air to shoot a beam of fire.

It’s a quadruped too, resembling the Hunters of the original Crysis except on a smaller scale.

There are others teased through the gameplay demo not clearly seen in the trailer, such as an armoured beetle-like enemy that buries its head into the ground, creating a shield for its allies.

Towards the end of the demo Prophet is ambushed by a large contingent of Ceph troops – some of which don’t resemble any previously seen. There’s a large quadruped with a flat back, and a bipedal heavily armoured unit too.

Whether these will be permanent fixtures or not it’s hard to say, but with Crysis 2’s watered down set of Ceph enemies, Crysis 3 certainly looks set to mix things up a bit.

CryEngine 3 is undoubtedly a capable engine.

Prophet’s New Abilities In Crysis 3

One ‘enemy’ we didn’t mention was the implementation of automated turrets. These are intended to defend certain areas or corners, as you might expect, but can easily be bypassed with Prophet’s new abilities.

Hacking is the easiest way of bypass these turrets but Rasmus pointed out that this was one of the simpler means of hacking, causing the turret to turn on its owners.

It was all automated, so whether this means more complicated actions have an associated mini-game or that there’s a choice of how to affect machines through hacking it’s not yet clear.

Rasmus also highlighted another feature not shown in the gameplay trailer or in the demo. The ability to intercept will be a new feature for Prophet’s suit, but it’s not yet known if that means hacking and stopping rockets mid-flight or simply intercepting enemies quickly.